Living to make much of Jesus

Trust the Process

“I am the LORD your God, who teaches you what is best for you…. (Is 48:17).

When in college I went through a major swing change during the winter in preparation for the upcoming golf season. I spent hours in the indoor training center preparing myself for what was coming. At first, the swing change felt awkward and wrong. It was difficult and challenging and to be quite honest, I wasn’t hitting the ball better, at least, not at first.

Travis was his name, the guy in the indoor center who spent all those hours with me years ago to help me prepare for the upcoming spring season. I went to college with relatively low scores in high school, but things quickly changed when I had to play from the men’s tees. My scores shot up and I knew something had to change.

After a number of weeks, my swing started changing. It became more natural and it wasn’t so awkward anymore. To do this day, I have a very fundamentally sound golf swing thanks to Travis.

There were many times when I wanted to give up on Travis’s instruction. As I wrestled through the new swing change it didn’t feel right at all. I was tempted to go back to the old way that I had known. It seemed easier to do so. I questioned a number of times if what Travis was teaching me was correct, but I knew that Travis knew more about golf than me and so I trusted him with the process.

If we allow for it in our own lives, God can become our teacher too. Showing and teaching us new things about life and about ourselves. The process albeit difficult and painful at times is one that we can trust. After all, God knows a little bit more about life than we do. At first, the changes He makes in us feel very uncomfortable. The things He asks us to do don’t make sense in the present moment. It feels easier to revert back to the ways we’ve always done things. We feel more comfortable there. We wrap our arms around our love of a comfortable life, but at the same time, our comfortable life wraps its arms around us holding us captive.

As we embrace one another we find a false comfort in each other, but oh how we love it. We have joined ourselves with a lie. As we let go of our embrace with a comfortable life God starts to change us and make us new. We must keep walking the difficult road of sanctification if we’re going to really be made more like Jesus.

Some of us have a beauty that’s coming in our lives. Something God is working out for His great glory and fame. It’s something we’ve never known before. It’s a new teaching that our hearts are bucking up against. It’s His will against ours and everything within us wants to fight the process. However, it is when we let go that we find HIs promises are true for us. That He who began a good work in us will carry it out until the day of completion in Christ Jesus. It’s there, as we let go that we find a new teaching for our hearts and it starts to re-shape us and make us new.

God is always working to create in us a new heart and mind. This is His will, that we would be conformed more and more to the image of His Son. Could it be that we have believed the lie that says, “God doesn’t know what He’s doing!” “Don’t walk this road, it’s difficult!” “Go back to what you know, it’s safer!”

I think so. Yet, we can trust the good teacher knows what He’s doing. Stick with the process. Allow for Him to change your heart and mind and wait with hopeful expectation for the beauty that is coming.

Oh Lord, forgive us. You’re trying to teach us something new, but we believe we know better. We’re afraid. We don’t like being taught a new thing, because it makes us uncomfortable, but thank you. Thank you for creating in us a clean and pure heart. Show us the grace of your mercy that is new every morning. Transform my heart, in Jesus name, Amen!